Coach Munchak's Dec. 5 Practice Report

Just the field got pretty wet with the rain. We don’t expect rain there, so I didn’t think that would matter. It’s just more of the fields were pretty wet. We’ll get a chance to go out there tomorrow, but we had a good practice in here, good workout.

(on whether the team will be outside tomorrow)

Yeah, we’ll stay out. We wanted to get a lot of work done today. Whatever the situation is tomorrow, we’ll stay out. Hopefully it won’t be wet. We’re hoping it’ll just be cold and windy.

(on bringing extra gear to Denver)

It’s one of those weekends (Paul Noska) doesn’t care for a whole lot. I think you’re trying to get a lot of players used to what they want now so that you’re not bringing too much stuff. We have to be prepared for whatever you may have, and we’re assuming obviously it’s going to be cold. Other than that, just make sure they have the right shoes that they like to have, gloves, all the usual stuff.

(on whether offensive linemen used to fine each other for wearing long sleeves)

That became kind of like a deal. If you happen to go to sleeves in December, you were fined accordingly I guess. There’s some type of fine system if you did that by the players. I don’t know if they honor it as much as they used to back when I played. We used to go to Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh in December and had a lot of cold games back in those days.

(on whether he wore short sleeves)

For linemen, once you start playing for the position, once the game starts…if you’re on the bench not playing, it’s a little different story. Those guys are caped up and you got the hot benches. If you’re playing, once you get out there and get going, the weather’s really not an issue. I never had to handle the ball, obviously, but as far as linemen’s play, you never get tired, you feel good, your energy’s good all day. I played in a lot of really cold games, and I never really noticed it affected the front guys. Obviously, it’s going to affect the guy catching the ball if it’s windy and those things, but for the most part, the cold really didn’t become a factor.

(on whether the offensive linemen will wear long sleeves Sunday)

(Michael) Roos always wears sleeves, he always has. His first year he didn’t, but he wears them September through December. That’s his comfort. Some guys are more comfortable that way. I never was, a lot of players aren’t. I think that he’s the only one that wears sleeves in our group, but he wears them all the time. It’s something he’s comfortable with in practice.

(on the Titans needing to have a strong offensive performance this weekend)

Without a doubt. We’re going to have to be consistent from start to finish knowing that they don’t have to be consistent. They’re a team that can come out hot or they can come out slow and they can get hot. For us, from start to finish to give ourselves a chance to win this football game, we have to be at our best in all three phases. There’s no way around that unless we get an awful lot of turnovers or breaks throughout the game. We’re going to have to start from the beginning playing well. We hung with Seattle late in the fourth quarter. They’re 11-1 or whatever they are now, so they’re a pretty good football team. We can go on the road and play with teams. It’s just a matter of us not making mistakes to where it’s out of hand early. This is a team that will take advantage of your mistakes. If we put the ball on the ground and do silly things, they’ll pile points on fast kind of like what happened in some of our games last year. When we played against good football teams and turned the ball over, we were down 21, 24 points real fast. We know what that feels like and how fast that can happen, so we just can’t get in that position.

(on adjusting the game plan this week)

I think Dowell’s (Loggains) done a good job of having different packages ready. We adjusted during the game I thought last week pretty well for the most part. We’ll have a fullback this time, so there are things we added. We could do the same with the passing game. We won’t lose either. We think we have a lot of ways to go, and we’ll see how it plays out.

He looked good today. He did some today, so that’s a good sign that he’s out there. He was limited, but he still got some work, got some confidence. I think he felt fine so far, so if he does well tomorrow, at least we’ll know for sure that he’ll be one of the guys up.

He’ll (Delanie Walker) get checked tomorrow. We’ll find out where he’s at. He worked out pretty hard off the field. He’ll see a doctor in the morning and kind of see where we think he’s at. (Visanthe) Shiancoe looks good. He’s a confident kid. He’s been in big games, he’s caught on quickly, he’s been taught by good coaches throughout his career. I think we got lucky with a guy like him also that will come in and play a game like this and feel comfortable.

(on Visanthe Shiancoe as a blocker)

He’s solid. He’s going it do the right thing. Like I said, for a guy that can pick up as much as he has and be able to do as much practicing as he has done the last couple of days, it’s encouraging. At least you have someone that can help and someone that has played. A lot of stuff we’re doing is similar to what he has done before. He’s comfortable. Practice is a lot different than a game as we know, but at least we have someone that we feel can do some things that Delanie (Walker) can do.

I think he’s been good against it all. He’s been a pain in practice for our offense. He’s a nuisance that way. He gets a lot of penetration. You saw that one play for the 10-yard loss when they tried the reverse on him. For a guy his size, I think the leverage helps him, being shorter. I know of myself playing against guys that were smaller, shorter, Michael Dean Perry. They were more aggravating because they can get natural leverage on you. He’s still good with his hands. For a guy that’s built like he is, he actually gets pretty skinny. He can shoot through a gap and get slippery and do a lot of things. He’s not just one dimensional in what he does. I think people realize that now. He just gets better. He loves playing, he wants to be the best. That’s what’s fun about him: he wants to be the best, be in the Pro Bowl. He doesn’t mind telling me he wants to be the best defensive tackle, he wants to beat Keith Millard’s record. He’s got high expectations for himself and pushes himself. He practices hard every day, and it’s showing up in the game for him.